This invention relates generally to oral appliances and in particular to an oral appliance for improving breathing and a method of constructing the same.
Many people experience breathing problems on a recurring basis, which often results in difficulty sleeping, in snoring, or in other more serious conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea. One treatment for such breathing problems involves use of a device inserted into a user""s mouth for extending the user""s lower jaw forward. These devices help to open the user""s breathing passage more fully to allow easier breathing through the user""s nose and mouth.
As technology advances and people with breathing problems demand increased performance and comfort, improving the breathing of the users becomes increasingly important. Previous devices for improving breathing include upper and lower arches connected using some mechanical apparatus to move the lower arch forward and thus extend the user""s lower jaw forward. Alternatively, some devices have used an acrylic material to connect the upper and lower arches. The acrylic material is coupled to the upper and lower arches while heated deformable state and allowed to cool and harden such that the lower arch is extended forward to a fixed position. Although certain of these devices have been effective in treating breathing problems, they are unable to be adjusted once the acrylic hardens and fixes the relative position of the upper and lower arches. As a result, if the user requires greater forward extension of the lower arch due to ineffectiveness, poor fit, or another problem associated with the device having the current forward extension, an entirely new device must be created. This may often be inconvenient, time-consuming, and expensive. This and other deficiencies have made previous devices inadequate to satisfy the needs of many users.
The oral appliance of the present invention reduces or eliminates the problems and disadvantages associated with previous devices for improving breathing.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a device for improving a user""s breathing includes an upper arch adapted to receive at least some of the user""s upper teeth and a lower arch adapted to receive at least some of the user""s lower teeth. A deformable material coupling the upper arch to the lower arch includes an aliphatic polyester. The deformable material is bonded to the upper and lower arches to fix the forward position of the lower arch. In a particular embodiment, the aliphatic polyester may include a polycaprolactone polymer. In still another particular embodiment, the deformable material may be placed in a deformable state to allow the lower arch to be adjusted to a new position.
The oral appliance of the present invention provides many important technical advantages of previous devices for improving breathing. The oral appliance includes a deformable material that includes an aliphatic polyester to couple the upper and lower arches. In a more particular embodiment, the aliphatic polyester includes one or more polycaprolactone polymers. The use of an aliphatic polyester such as polycaprolactone allows the relative positions of the upper and lower arches to be repeatedly adjusted, according to a particular user""s needs. In contrast to acrylic materials used in previous devices, the deformable material of the present invention may be reheated after fixing the relative positions of the upper and lower arches to place it once again in a deformable state, the lower arch may be extended to a greater or lesser extent, and the deformable material may be allowed to harden to once again fix the relative positions of the upper and lower arches. The ability to adjust the extension of the lower arch after the oral appliance has been used, without creating an entirely new oral appliance, provides an important technical advantage of the present invention. Other technical advantages are readily apparent to those skilled in the art.